Marketing with Application Store Optimization(ASO)

Application Store Optimization commonly known as ASO, stands for the process of increasing the visibility of any given application in an application store. The common application stores include Google play store, iTunes, Samsung App store and the Nokia app store. ASO shares a great deal of similarity with the SEO or Search Engine Optimization. In a similar principle, ASO seeks to make particular applications rank higher in the search results of an app store. This way a better ranked application stands to drive more traffic to the application that leads to more downloads and that is the dream of any application marketer.

The major application stores that are in existence today boast of over two million applications. These are all aiming for a piece of the market and stand out as a major application to reckon with. The greatest dilemma with the application developers is to get their applications recognized and downloaded. There have been established a number of ways to make this happen. Over the years, new ideas come up as solutions to this issue, with the latest being the Application Store Optimization. This article seeks to shade more light on this technique and the manner by which it operates while exposing the advantages that it brings to the application marketers.

As indicated earlier, each and every application store houses a number of applications. Most of these applications pretty much serve the same purpose with slight difference in size or performance. Due to this, when an individual accesses a given application store, he or she is most likely to conduct a search on the store so as to see through the options available. To get the attention of these potential clients, one needs to ensure that the application that he is marketing is extremely visible. This visibility which is a result of the mobile app optimization, will lead to more traffic that translates to more download.

For this technique to be more effective, the marketer must get to perfectly understand the target market. This includes getting to know their base, taste and preferences, age, sex among other vital demographics. The marketer should also take a keen notice on the specific words that the target market uses when they search the application stores for applications that are similar to the one that the marketer intends to offer to them. Having taken all these into consideration, the marketer can now claim to have a proper understanding of the target market’s language, which is pivotal in the ASO, and can now work on the appropriate keywords.

Research has indicated that most applications are discovered through application searches within the stores. This only means that searching is the leading technique that the search option is the most used component of an application store. Every market for any application is therefore advised to jump on the bandwagon that is Application Store Optimization, and get to experience maximized visibility that exposes their applications to their clients. Even with the numerous applications across the available stores, a number of publishers still do not use App Store Optimization to increase their visibility. This makes the technique a rare gem that acts as a special means of getting the job done. Most marketers use it as a special weapon to beat competition and rank above everyone else.

In the recent years, the mobile application industry has seen a surge in the number of applications being developed, and this has also seen the industry grow in value to the tune of billions. There are two main players in the industry that have made a huge impact with the applications that they offer, thereby becoming the market leaders, these are; Google play store for the android devices, and iTunes for the Apple iOS run devices. Google Android holds a 58% lead, followed by Apple iOS at 33% leaving the rest to be shared among other players in the market. To maximize on this, one needs to optimize presence of an application in both stores if not all available stores.

There are a few factors that have to be taken into consideration to ensure the success of this process. First of all, one needs to take note of the application title. There is great need to ensure that the main keyword that is in the title is that which experiences a great deal of traffic in terms of searching. This will eliminate the need to keep changing the title as that can also hinder its popularity. Once an application begins ascending in ranking, its popularity increases too and changing the title would change or undermines its success.

The marketer also needs to get a good grip on the relevant keywords. These are the keywords that the target market uses when they search for applications in the application stores. This will greatly improve the ranking of the application. It is also good to monitor the performance of the competitors to learn on the relevant changes necessary to beat them in the market. One also needs to find a way to get the clients to offer ratings and reviews concerning the application. These are the modern day word of mouth that helps sell a product. Client testimonies will always be vital in getting more downloads.

Let us look at the basics involved in the whole process of getting to achieve mobile app store optimization. As used in search engine optimization, the very principles involved are applied to achieve similar results. This involves the creation of the app store metadata using the relevant keywords that the target market are using currently or are likely to use in their search. Getting the right keywords involve a great deal of market research and brainstorming. These have to be related to the application in mind. This can be done by finding out the top search performers, as well as the keywords that the competitors are using to improve their rankings. it is also a good idea to find out the words that are less competitive, but will help raise the rankings. App marketers can choose to localize the specific keywords to certain geographic regions thereby maximizing n them.

The success of an ASO could be maximized through the following steps. First and foremost, one needs to come up with a spectacular icon that is eye-catching. This is an assured way of standing out among the competitors and getting noticed among the search results. There is need to get consistency in terms of design and colors with the business logo of the origin company. An app from an established company is more likely to get more downloads. It is therefore an advantage to ride on the popularity of the company to get more downloads of the app.

Secondly, one needs to include a good mobile app store description for the particular application. Keep it short and simple. Make sure that the reader gets the whole idea of the application in the first ten minutes. This is best done using bullets and points. Most users would not want to encounter a great deal of literature when they are searching for an app. Also make a point of not using jargon as it might also throw the potential buyers off and move on to other apps with simpler literature.

High quality screenshots is another good way of exposing your application to the potential market. these are used as flipbooks that indicate the strengths of the application, be it the graphics or the user friendly interface. The more attractive the screenshots, the more the chances of it getting downloaded. A simple tagline should also appear on the screenshot, explaining the particular feature.

App updates is an attractive feature in the mobile app industry. Take the opportunity to explain the details involved in the update. Don’t forget to mention the new features that can be accessed with the update, as well as the old features that have been gotten rid of. Sound convincing in terms of how better the application has gotten. Many publishers use terms like ‘Bugs fixed’ which do not sound convincing enough.

Finally, it is important to repeat the whole process every couple of weeks to ensure that you keep track of the performance of the application in the store as well as the performance of the ASO strategy. This will help you determine the points that need correction and also help in ensuring that the whole process is a success.

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